September 24, 2026
Unlock a PDF Online: Smallpdf vs iLovePDF vs MyTools, Compared
Smallpdf vs iLovePDF vs MyTools for removing a PDF password: free limits, batch support, and where your file and password go. Pick the right unlocker for you.
Your bank, your payroll provider or your accountant sends you a PDF that asks for a password every time you open it. You know the password. You'd just like to stop typing it. To unlock a PDF online, most people end up weighing Smallpdf against iLovePDF, and there is a third option that works differently: MyTools. This article looks at all three honestly, with one question the others usually skip: to remove the password, where do you have to send your file and the password itself?
What "Unlocking" a PDF Really Means
A PDF can carry two different kinds of protection, and it helps to know which one you're dealing with:
- An open password (sometimes called a user password). The file is encrypted and won't display at all without it. Bank statements, payslips and tax documents almost always use this kind.
- A permissions password (an owner password). The file opens normally but blocks printing, copying text or editing.
An unlocker takes the password you already know, decrypts the file and saves a clean copy with no encryption left. It doesn't guess anything. None of the three tools here will crack an open password you've forgotten, and you should be wary of any site that claims it can.
People look for an online tool because the alternative is paying for Adobe Acrobat for a job that takes ten seconds. A work laptop that blocks installs, a phone, and a batch of twelve statements at tax time all push toward a browser tab.
The catch is that the documents people unlock are among the most sensitive files they own. Keep that in mind as you read the three sections below.
Smallpdf: Polished, Certified, Metered
Smallpdf is a Swiss freemium PDF suite, and its unlock tool is as clean as the rest of the platform: upload, type the password, download.
What it gets right
- A calm, uncluttered interface that non-technical users get through without help.
- A strong compliance story. Smallpdf advertises ISO/IEC 27001 certification and GDPR compliance, uses TLS for uploads and says files are deleted after an hour.
- Permissions-only restrictions (print or copy blocks) are removed without asking you for a password.
Where it falls short
- The free tier is metered. Recent reports put it at around two tasks per day across all tools, with small per-file caps and a limited number of files per batch; unlimited use needs Pro, at roughly $12 a month.
- Your file and the password are sent to Smallpdf's servers. Encryption in transit and one-hour deletion are real safeguards, but the decrypted statement still exists, briefly, on someone else's machine.
- A dozen statements at tax time will run into the daily cap long before you're done.
iLovePDF: Generous Size, Same Upload Model
iLovePDF is the Spanish suite most people know from its merge and compress tools. Its unlocker follows the familiar pattern: drop the file in, and it's unlocked and downloaded.
What it gets right
- A generous file size ceiling. Third-party guides describe a limit in the hundreds of megabytes, well above what a bank statement needs.
- It handles both open passwords (when you supply them) and permissions passwords, which it removes without one.
- It's part of a large toolkit with desktop and mobile apps, so an unlocked file can go straight into another iLovePDF tool.
Where it falls short
- Free use comes with daily task limits, and the exact thresholds for this tool aren't clearly published, so it's hard to know when you'll hit a wall.
- Like Smallpdf, it works by uploading your file to its servers for processing. Its guidance is that files are deleted automatically after a couple of hours.
- iLovePDF's own guidance admits some files won't unlock when the embedded encryption is too strong, and sends you back to the document's author.
MyTools: The Unlock Happens on Your Device
MyTools takes a different technical route. The PDF is decrypted inside your browser tab, using the password you type into the page. Neither the file nor the password is uploaded, so there is no server copy to delete afterwards. It's free with no account and no daily cap.
What it gets right
- Your file and your password never leave your device. For a bank statement, this is the difference that matters: nothing is sent to a server, so nothing sits in someone's temporary folder for an hour.
- Built for batches. Drop up to 30 PDFs at once, each up to 100 MB. If they all share a password, as monthly statements usually do, one toggle lets you type it once for the whole list. Files that turn out not to be locked are passed through without a prompt.
- No meter. No tasks per day, no email gate, no watermark on the result. You download each file or the whole batch as a ZIP.
Where it falls short
- Some uncommon encryption schemes, such as certificate-based encryption and certain Adobe-specific variants, aren't supported in the browser. If a file reports "unsupported encryption," you'll need desktop Acrobat for that one.
- It's a single-purpose tool rather than a suite: no Google Drive or Dropbox import, and no editing, signing or OCR on the same page.
- Because the work runs on your own hardware, a large batch on an old phone is slower than a server farm would be.
Side by Side
| Smallpdf | iLovePDF | MyTools | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free tier | ~2 tasks/day | Daily limits, not detailed | Unlimited |
| Batch unlocking | A few files on free | Yes | Up to 30 files, shared password |
| File sent to a server | Yes, deleted after ~1 hour | Yes, deleted after ~2 hours | No, stays in your browser |
| Password sent to a server | Yes | Yes | No |
| Signup required | No | No | No |
| Strongest at | Polish and compliance paperwork | Big files, big toolbox | Sensitive files, batches |
Which Unlocker Fits Your File?
Start with the document, not the tool.
If your company already pays for Smallpdf or iLovePDF, use the one you have. The unlock is one step in a longer workflow of compressing, converting and signing, and the suite keeps it all in one place. A company that needs a vendor with ISO 27001 paperwork will find it more easily at Smallpdf.
If the file is enormous, say a scanned archive of several hundred megabytes, iLovePDF's larger ceiling makes it the more practical choice, as long as you're comfortable uploading it.
If the file is a bank statement, a payslip, a medical record or anything else you'd hesitate to email to a stranger, the question of where the password goes decides it. The server-based tools protect your upload well, but MyTools never makes one. The same goes for a stack of monthly statements: a shared password and no daily cap is exactly what that job needs.
Two quick notes. Unlocking removes protection for good, so if you're forwarding the file, you may want to lock it again with a password of your own. And if you're unlocking only so you can combine several statements into one file, the merge tool takes the unlocked copies directly.
The Bottom Line
Smallpdf and iLovePDF are capable, well-run unlockers. Their catch is the free-tier meter, plus the fact that your document and its password make a round trip through their servers. MyTools gives up the suite features and the exotic encryption support, and in exchange the unlock never leaves your device, with no daily limit.
Have a password-protected PDF you're tired of opening? Unlock it in your browser, without an upload →